Skerries Under 10's vs De La Salle Palmerstown (07.03.10)

Early on a bright and sunny Sunday morning, a large Skerries contingent assembled in Kilternan, for a hotly-contested and evenly-matched 9 games of rugby. We fielded 3 teams of 7 players, each team playing 3 games. And, as there were no subs, this proved a gruelling contest.

The “Gold Team” showed great spirit, with fine running from Mark Coomey and Declan O’Reilly. And when DLSP attacked, our defences were strong, with great tackling from Ciaran Palmer and John Grimes. Well taken tries from Thomas McBrien, Patrick Hutton, Mark Coomey and Joe Mulvanny helped this team win all three of their games.

The “Cerise Team” weren’t as lucky, and despite some marauding runs through the oppositions ranks by Sean Keenan, and well taken tries from Lochlann Joyce and Killian McGinnis, they were just pipped in each game. A Brian O’Driscoll style display from Killian McGinnis caught the eye with strong evasive running in attack combined with crunching tackles in defence. Liam Woodcock was also very solid both in attack and in defence and memorably snuffed out an almost certain DLSP try with a perfectly timed double tackle. Jack Halligan worked hard in the tight and Tim Sharkey and the Horan cousins, Gareth and Ronan, ran well when things opened up. Ronan was particularly unlucky to be denied a score when just forced into touch inches short of the try line.

The “Blue Team” epitomised the team spirit that’s running through the entire squad. With Evan Tickner, Karl Nolan and John Healy winning balls up front, creating a platform for the half-backs Oisin McKee and Jack Dowling to run over some great tries (although the ref didn’t appreciate the Tommy Bowe-type celebrations!!). It took a number of tacklers to take down Luke McAvinue, and there was some great rucking and off-loads, to allow Adam Bund to send Karl Nolan over the line. This team won one game, lost one and drew one.

So, in all, having won 4, lost 4 and drawn 1, it could not have been a more evenly balanced contest. And while the bodies were tired on the journey back home, the lads should be very proud of the way they played.